Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office will investigate the Broward school district’s efforts to secure technology contracts following the release of a scathing report by Broward County’s chief watchdog.
A report released last week by Broward County’s Office of Inspector General accused several district employees of mismanaging the bidding process and misleading the board, and one employee of steering business to a vendor. A vendor was accused of submitting false information to win a district contract. All have denied any wrongdoing.
The Office of Inspector General referred the report to the Broward State Attorney’s Office. But now it could face a statewide review. On Wednesday, Uthmeier shared a post on the social media platform X linking to a story from a South Florida Sun Sentinel reporter about the investigation.
“We raised concerns regarding this process last year, and the IG’s report failed to alleviate those concerns,” Uthmeier wrote. “We plan to investigate this further.”
That could mean a joint investigation between the state attorney and attorney general.
“We are always open to collaborating and working with the State Attorney General’s Office on this pending investigation, and prosecutors from both agencies plan to communicate on this matter,” Paula McMahon, a spokeswoman for Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Howard Hepburn, superintendent for Broward County Public Schools, said in a statement, “We are always open to collaborating and working with the State Attorney General’s Office on this pending investigation and prosecutors from both agencies plan to communicate on this matter.”